Obama and the Pirates

It’s better to be lucky than good. It’s even better to be lucky and good. One can easily imagine all the different ways the rescue of Captain Phillips might have been screwed up–and the political firestorm that would have resulted. But President Obama appears to have been crisp and decisive throughout…and what can one say about the SEAL sharpshooters–firing from a bobbing ship at a bobbing dinghy and recording three headshots?

But it could easily have gone wrong, through no fault of the President and the SEALs–a gust of wind, whatever…and then the Administration would have had to waste all sorts of energy on damage control, fending off the second-guessers–Republicans and, all too often, people like me–and perhaps overreacting to the pirate “threat” as a result. Presidencies are, sadly, built or crippled on such quirks of fate.

As it stands, our socialist, pacifist, crypto-Muslim President has bagged three terrorist in the most dramatic fashion and saved a Captain. Congratulations to all concerned–and let’s hope that the good luck continues to roll.

Update: Commenter Sgwhiteinfla points out that Newt Gingrich had a busy twitter weekend backseat-driving the situation and he’s right. Here’s a sample:

President obama is making a major mistake in not forcefully oulining the rules of civilization for dealing with pirates We look weak9:55 AM Apr 11th from TwitterBerry

newtgingrichThe correct answer to piracy is to destroy it not negotiate with it Seals can retake the lifeboat Track every boat leaving somalia9:35 AM Apr 10th from TwitterBerry

Oh well. Nevermind. I might point out that if we hadn’t been negotiating with the pirates they wouldn’t have been under tow by the US Navy and therefore accessible to the SEALs. But this has been another chapter in the saga: Republicans Making Fools of Themselves. What a sorry run.